Chandigarh, Feb 13 - A Punjab Minister who tossed himself into a controversy by flipping a coin to decide on posting of one of the two lecturers at a state polytechnic on Tuesday justified the method involved and blamed a section of the media.

A video showing Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi tossing the coin in the presence of candidates had gone viral on social media. The toss was recorded on Monday when the Minister called 37 lecturers in mechanical stream, recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission, for giving them posting their orders, officials privy to the episode .

Justifying the method he adopted to select the candidate, Singh on Tuesday maintained that it was for the first time vis-a-vis the Technical Education Department that posting stations for newly selected lecturers were allotted in a "transparent manner as per their choice". "It is unfortunate that instead of highlighting the welcome step taken by the department, a section of the media, without following the basics ethics of journalism, has mysteriously ignored the facts and presented baseless sensational news." Channi said the newly recruited lecturers were invited to his office at the Punjab Civil Secretariat here.

They were requested to give their choices for posting stations without any discrimination. The Minister said that out of a total of 37 stations available for posting, 35 were allotted as per the choice of the candidates without overlapping of choice at any particular station.

At one station, he said, two candidates opted for the same station. One candidate had more academic achievements whereas the other had more experience. Channi said he asked them to decide the issue mutually. He said when both candidates were unable to reach a compromise, they proposed to go for a toss and the station was allotted thereafter by the flip of the coin. The Technical Education Minister said that any government employee can be posted anywhere without his or her consent, but he did not do this and instead opted for a transparent method to allot stations to newly selected lecturers as per their choice to ensure better academic results.